China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2021 03-18

  Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/26.............................................................................................................................3/18

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                       

                                                         Section One

                                                    Solar Calendar Date

                                              (top to bottom, right to left)

十

八

四期星

Third Month, Eighteenth Day

Thursday, March 18

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

生時敬天

氣陽安恩

Heavenly Kindness

Reverential Calm

Timely Yang

Engendered Vapor

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

吉中吉

酉巳丑

凶凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
安塞補栽

葬穴垣種

Planting and Cultivating

Patching Embankments

Plugging Caves

Positioning Graves

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

初

六

乙

丑

金

斗

開

Sixth Day (First Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yichou (2/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Southern Ladle (8/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Open (11/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

宜

開裁會祭

渠衣友祀

安修嫁祈

牀造娶福

作動移入

灶土徙學

置上理出

產樑髮行

日復

勾五重上

陳虛喪兀

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Going Out (and about)

Meeting Friends

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Cutting-out Clothing

Repairing and Cultivating

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Setting-up Production

Baleful Astral Influences

Classified Balefulness

Fire Star

Lunar Taboo

Yin General

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese should be read right to left, 
but the English translation is underneath each character)
丫 林

Bifurcation, Copse

————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Items 
(the Chinese should be read top-to-bottom, and right-to-left;
the English translation is under the bottom of each character)

厠 磨 碓

Toilet, Mortar, Pestle